Rudy
by IheartOakenshield193712
Summary: "Hey Saumensch," Rudy smirked. "Thought I'd lost you back there..." A short story of Rudy meeting Liesel in Heaven


_Rudy?_

_She did more than mouth the word now. "Rudy?"_

_He lay with yellow hair and closed eyes, and the book theif ran toward him and fell down. She dropped the black book. "Rudy," she sobbed, "wake up..." She grabbed him by his shirt and gave him just the slightest disbelieving shake. "Wake up, Rudy," and now, as the sky wen ton heating and showering ash, Liesel was holding Rudy Steiner's shirt by the front. "Rudy, please." The tears grappled with her face. "Rudy, please, wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you. Come on Rudy, come on, Jesse Owens, don't you know I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up..."_

_She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers. Her hands were trembling, her lips were fleshy, and she leaned in once more, this time losing control and misjudging it. Their teeth collided on the demolished world of Himmel Street..._

_- Markus Zusak_

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**Heaven...**

"Hey, Saumensch," Rudy smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "Thought I'd lost you back there," he said, referring to the bombing of Himmel Street.

Liesel faintly smiled. Deep within her heart, she kept Papa, Mama, and Rudy safe and buried as she continued her life. Seeing him again made her remember the day she found him dead.

"What?" Rudy scoffed. "No words for me? Nothing for your best friend? Come on, Saumensch!"

"R-Rudy," she started, her voice wavering. "It's really you. It's really Jesse Owens himself." She smiled and took in his fourteen-year-old soul. "You haven't changed."

"You have."

Liesel smiled again. "I lived a life. I lived a full life."

Rudy's smirk faltered slightly. "Was it better than Himmel Street?" he asked vainly.

"In some ways, yes it was," she replied, "but other times, I still wished to see you across the street with the soccer ball at your feet and Papa and Mama arguing in the house." She looked down at her aged self and sighed heavily. "You know, I never did love my husband the way I loved you. I don't think I could."

The other grinned. "Well, that's the nicest thing you've said to me since you got here, Saumensch."

Liesel rolled her eyes before looking at him firmly. "Rudy, did you hear me that day I... that day I found you?"

"Yeah," he said faintly. "Vaguely, but I saw you. I imagined that kiss was something great. Too bad I never felt it-"

"Shut up, Saukerl. I'm not kissing you," Liesel laughed.

Rudy pouted, his lemon hair falling in front of his eyes. "Saumensch, come on!" he protested. "I've been waiting for all of eternity for this moment!"

"No!"

"Come on, Saumensch. Don't I deserve a kiss after all these years of waiting?"

Liesel shook her head. "I kissed you all those years ago. That should have been good enough, Saukerl."

"But it never will be," Rudy said pitifully. "I wanted to kiss you, Saumensch. I planned on it the next day but... those planes had other plans," he sighed. "I loved you, Liesel. I wanted to tell you that you were the bravest girl I ever met. Stealing those books and running up to that Jew. You were all so brave and courageous. And I never got to tell you that. Saumensch, I am glad you lived that day, otherwise... I would have been a complete ass trying to tell you I loved you."

"Do you... Do you still love me?" Liesel asked softly and hopefully.

"Yes, for all your long life I loved you, but you were never here," Rudy confessed. "I wish I had told you I loved you, and maybe things would have been better when the-"

"No, they wouldn't have," she interrupted. "It would have hurt much worse than it did. I don't think I ever forgot what I felt that morning and there were many times I wanted to forget it, but I had to think of what you'd say and move on. I didn't want to. I honestly didn't. I thought I would return to Himmel Street and see you smiling and hear Papa playing his accordion and Mama grumbling about how the mayor's wife could do her own washing and ironing."

Rudy laughed. "And we could steal apples like we used to."

"Without Viktor," she added with a giggle. "Oh, I have missed you, Saukerl."

"Me too, Saumensch." He smiled and looked at Liesel. "Can I have that kiss now?"

"No, Saukerl," Liesel grinned. "Not in a million-"

Rudy's live and soulful lips were crushed against hers, a stark contrast from when she kissed his lifeless body. He smiled against her lips and she let out a small giggle in return. Kisses with her husband hadn't been this enchanting.

Rudy was always meant to be hers, but the sirens had failed...

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**Hello, Book Thief readers! Let's just say I cried through the last thirty pages of the book and writing this story. Hope you enjoyed it! - IheartOakenshield193712**


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